Factors associated with depressive symptoms in a sample of Brazilian medical students

• Autor(a) principal: Macedo,Paula Natalie Arraes Guedes
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Nardotto,Luciana Loureiro, Dieckmann,Luiz Henrique Junqueira, Ferreira,Yngrid Dieguez, Macedo,Barbara Arraes Guedes, Santos,Maria Aparecida Pedrosa dos, De Marco,Mario Alfredo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-55022009000400010
• topic: Depression; Students; Medicine; Prevalence

OBJECTIVES: 1 - Verify the prevalence of depressive symptoms in first to fourth-year medical students using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). 2 - Establish correlations between target factors and higher or lower BDI scores. 3 - Investigate the relationship between the prevalence of depressive symptoms and the demand for psychological care offered by the Centro Universitário Lusíada. METHOD: Cross-sectional study of 290 first to fourth-year medical students; implementation of the BDI, socio-demographic survey, and evaluation of satisfaction with progress. RESULTS: The study sample was 59% female and 41% male. Mean BDI was 6.3 (SD 5.8). Overall prevalence of depressive symptoms was 23.1%. The following associations were statistically significant (p<0.05): among students for whom the course failed to meet original expectations, who were dissatisfied with the course, or who came from the interior of the State (20.5%, 12.5%, and 24.4% of the total sample, respectively), for 40%, 36.1% and 36.4%, respectively, the BDI was consistent with some degree of depression. CONCLUSION: The study showed that there is higher prevalence of depressive symptoms in medical students than in the general population